"When you get, give. When you learn, teach."
Maya Angelou
That
quote from Maya Angelou has just jumped out to me and confiscated my
full attention from the very moment I first heard it, which was
yesterday.
The first sentence is such a beautiful and
simple call to action, to paying it forward. It is such a basic key to
understanding the deepest meaning behind the interchange between giving
and receiving. It however, is that second sentence that grabbed me by
the balls and eyeballs and said, "Listen!" Hallelujah!
When you learn, teach. Oh my God...
The
quote doesn't say when the world thinks you have learned or when your
friends think you have learned or when your teacher thinks you have
learned then teach. It says when you learn, teach. I keep repeating that
because I just want to hear those words over and over and I want you to
hear them over and over too.
How many of us believe we
have not learned enough to teach? I use to believe that. I don't
believe that anymore. Hallelujah! And I am going to teach right now...
You have learned and now you
must teach. You have learned and now you
must teach. You have learned and now you
must teach.
Now,
I am so sorry if any of you reading this believe you have
nothing to teach or that you don't know enough to teach well or
flawlessly or without your teachers permission. I am sorry if you
believe you are too wounded or too imperfect or too stupid or too Black
or too gay or too female or too riddled by the guilt of being sexually
abused or whatever we may tell ourselves invalidates our teaching. I
tell you, it is a lie. Who says we have to be perfect to teach? Who says
we have to have the elegant and charismatic speaking ability of a
Martin Luther king, Jr. or the brilliance of an Albert Einstein to
teach? I'll tell you who says that. We do. And we are also parroting the
messages and the consciousness of people who are not ready for our own
unique brand of brilliance. And they are wrong. And it is a lie. Damn
all of that to the lowest, deepest hell realm that any religion on the
planet has ever made up for us. You know, I think I just realized the
true meaning of all of those hells. It is where we are supposed to put
all the bullshit people tell us our whole lives so that we can finally
be Free. And all those messages can eternally burn, never to see the
light of day again. Yes. Hell is a place of Freedom! Why did the
Catholic church have to go screw with a good thing and create purgatory.
No. I want hell and only hells. Damn those messages of inadequacy to
hell!!!
Arrogant
Conceited
Egoic
Self- aggrandizing
Self- infatuated
Horn tootin'
Ignorant, unlearned, stupid no good BASTARD!
O
Lord have Mercy! We have so many ways of telling ourselves and telling
each other, that we have nothing or little to teach. So many ways of
telling ourselves and others to SHUT THE FUCK UP already!
How does one
go through this life without having nothing...nothing...nothing to
teach? Its not possible.
We don't need to go to Las Vegas to see a magic
show to see something "impossible." We don't have to travel to see the
latest bagel with the face of Jesus miraculously etched on it to see
something impossible. We have the impossible right here with us
everyday, each and every one of us. It is impossible to go any distance
in life without learning something that we can in turn teach
another.That is our daily impossibility staring us right in the face,
smiling like an overweight Cheshire Cat.
Maybe we are a
tad premature in our thinking that we have learned enough of certain
lessons to be able to teach about them. Ok, that does happen. And you
know what? It doesn't matter. It does not matter I tell you. Those who
have learned more about that thing will enter our lives and
they will
teach us more...or they won't or we won't listen when they do show
up...and it doesn't matter. In the meantime we teach what we
have
learned. Someone will benefit. Hallelujah! We're learning every second
of every day. We teach what we have learned today--today. We teach what
we learn tomorrow--tomorrow. And tomorrow will take care of itself.
Teach. Teach. Teach.
We
live in a world that needs all the teaching, all the wisdom, all the
conscious awareness it can get. Do not withhold. Do not be intimidated.
As we move into a New Year, please God, please Goddess, Please Allah,
please Shakyamuni, please Hindu pantheon, please Mother Earth and Sky Father
and the chorus of Angels...give us the strength and the confidence and
the courage to teach what we have learned to a world that is
thirsty...absolutely thirsty I tell you and hungry for those teachings.
Hallelujah!Blessed Be!
sage mahosadha
12.31.2010
© Raven/Sage Mahosadha
